Morphological plasticity in scleractinian corals.

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Phenotypic plasticity, environment-induced morphological changes, is often confused with intraspecific variation in corals.
• Skeletal features crucial for coral systematics are affected by environmental factors, impacting coral identification.
• Understanding coral plasticity is vital for assessing their acclimatization to environmental changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To differentiate between phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation in coral morphology.
• To review experimental approaches for studying coral phenotypic plasticity.
• To identify key environmental factors driving morphological changes in corals.

Main Methods:

• Categorization of experimental studies into 'non-clonal' and 'clonal' approaches.
• Highlighting the advantages of using clone-mates for studying among-genotype variation in plasticity.
• Acknowledging challenges in field and aquarium-based coral research.

Main Results:

• Less than 20 of 1314 extant scleractinian coral species have been experimentally tested for plastic responses.
• Evidence indicates light and water movement are the most significant environmental variables inducing morphological changes.
• The use of clone-mates in experiments is preferable for accurate plasticity assessment.

Conclusions:

• Phenotypic plasticity in corals, driven by factors like light and water movement, may be adaptive.
• Further rigorous testing is required to confirm the adaptive nature of coral plastic responses.
• Distinguishing plasticity from genetic variation is crucial for coral systematics and conservation.